Deutsche Welle relates one moment of relative restraint when German television asked him to comment on Chancellor Angela Merkel’s leadership during the European financial crisis.
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Schmidt, a center-left Social Democrat, led West Germany from 1974 to 1982.
Helmut Schmidt’s contributions to Germany, Europe, and the transatlantic relationship will long be remembered. Schmidt was the first German honored by the World Jewish Congress, which said that Schmidt will be greatly missed.
Meanwhile, other world leaders, including French Prime Minister Manuel Valls, took to Twitter to honor the former chancellor.
He died his hometown of Hamburg after falling ill following a bloodclot.
Regarded as an intellectual economist who promoted global cooperation for economic prosperity and the fight against terrorism, Schmidt led Germany through its phase in the 1970s as a “Wirtschaftwuinder”, or economic miracle. He was well-known for his plain-spoken style, as well as his commitment to the transatlantic relationship.
Schmidt refused to run for chancellor again due to health issues.
French President Francois Hollande paid tribute to Schmidt and praised the former chancellor as being a great European, while the Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, hailed him as being a great statesman and a historic figure even while he was still alive.
Schmidt’s office in Berlin, which he kept as a member of parliament, confirmed his death. He made his name back in his native Hamburg with his decisive 1962 management of severe flooding. The Soviets had also begun deploying new mobile, medium-range, nuclear-tipped SS20 missiles that could reach West Germany and other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation countries and, in Schmidt’s view, tip the balance of power against the west and shear Europe away from the alliance.
The European Parliament leader praised Schmidt’s intelligence and “plain language”, adding that the former German chancellor “laid the foundation for the euro and economic and monetary union” with “great foresight”.
Although convinced he had taken the right action, he also conceded he felt guilty about Mr Schleyer’s death.
Schmidt ordered a successful counter-terrorist assault on the plane, freeing the hostages. He had been fitted with a heart pacemaker and also suffered from a thyroid condition.
Despite increasing deafness in later years, Scmidt remained politically active, regularly commenting on European affairs, having beein a strong supporter of a closer European Union during his time in office.
Nearly always polite and correct in official public statements, Schmidt was often scathing in his private assessments, and – surprisingly uncautious for a head of government – allowed a fair number of people to hear them.
Schmidt and Loki, the childhood sweetheart he married in 1942, had one daughter, Susanne.
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Their first child died at just a few months old in 1945.
